Coffee Break
by baltics
Summary: It was just an average meeting at a coffee shop. For my 100 LTP Drabble Challenge; Not!Drabble 038 of 100.
1. Chapter 1

Feliks really, really did not want to be there.

But alas, he had to be. Opening the door of the shop, his breath was almost taken away as he stepped in from the cold into an almost unbearably hot atmosphere. He did end up coughing a little, looking around to make sure he hadn't caught any undue attention. Moving to stand in line for the counter, he noticed that he was pretty much a step away from the end; the line wound around a turnstile and was about twenty-two people deep.

His job usually accounted for a lot of over the phone and email contacts, but occasionally his boss wanted to actually meet face for face, like for evaluations, big discussions, and the occasional check in. Because coffee shops typically had Wi-Fi, those were common places that he'd get called to to have a meeting.

He'd gotten out of bed an hour late and still arrived twenty minutes before the meeting was going to be held, which was a miracle on his part. But he wished he could have been up earlier enough so he could make his own coffee. He reasoned, half dead, that hey, it's a coffee place. He can just buy coffee. But then once there, Feliks began to rethink this whole thing. He looked over his shoulder quickly but there were already more people approaching the door. If he got out of line, people would wonder what was up. Not that he was concerned about being rude (he honestly didn't think of things like that much) but he didn't want to feel people's eyes looking at him. More than anything, he wanted to just go back to bed. Why was the line so long? A few people and a counter person he could handle but the crowd in there made him nervous.

The line seemed to move slowly. Feliks kept looking around, hoping to see his boss. If she showed up, he could get out of the line and sit and get out. Or convince her to get coffee for the two of them; they'd been friends for a long time. Getting coffee now seemed like the worst idea in the world. There were seven people in front of him now. It was a while before there were six.

It seemed like fifteen minutes passed before he was at the counter. Once he got there, he didn't even notice. He was more preoccupied with how uneven his shoelaces were and how the snow outside had gotten his nice socks and corduroys dirty. Feliks was finally shocked out of his staring by a louder than normal "May I help you, sir?"

He looked up, eyes wide with a gasp, to see a man staring at him with his own wide eyes. "Sorry, we're just a little packed so we have to be a little speedy." He ran his hands down a wet apron, brown and white spots where leftover creams and caramels had splashed. "So can I help you?"

"Uh, yeah." Feliks quietly mumbled, reaching in his back pocket for his wallet. "I want a hot one but sweet. And, uh, big. What is that called."

The man stared at him, hands hovering over the cash register buttons. He blinked before speaking again with the patience of a saint. "We have handout menus to your right and a large menu above." Gesturing with a shoulder.

"Oh, yeah, I know." Feliks embarrassedly snatched one of the folded menus. "Duh."

He looked at it for five seconds. Everything on it had a foreign name. What were all these Italian words? Was he supposed to know Italian to order? He gulped quietly.

"One of these!" He quickly spit out, just turning the menu toward the cashier and pointing blindly. Whatever, it'd get him out of the line.

"Alright, that's a nice one...are you sure for today, though?"

"Yeah, positive." He looked cross. Why question him? Don't make him stand there longer than necessary.

"What size? Can I get a name? Yours, I mean." The man asked, hovering one hand over a section of cups in various sizes and grabbed a permanent marker with the other."

"The biggest one. And, uhm. Feliks"

"Alright. It'll be brought right over to you."

After handing over his credit card and paying, he couldn't have left the line faster. He quickly found a table in the corner, flopping down and removing the bag he'd had on his shoulder. Taking out his laptop, he quickly typed in the password and opening up the one document he had on his desktop. Now all he had to do was wait and only talk to his boss. He was just too shy to want to deal with any other people.

He strummed his fingers on the keys, looking at the spreadsheet on his computer. He just had to wait for his boss. That was all. Before long, steps approached his table and stopped. He looked up and didn't see his boss but the cashier with a drink in hand, paper towl wrapped around it.

"Here you are. Hope it's what you wanted?" He asked questioningly. Feliks looked at him with a look of confused frustration and then at the drink. He saw why pretty much immediately.

It was something with a lot of ice in it. An iced drink when the temperature was almost in the negatives outside.

"No, this is definitely not what I wanted." He took the paper towel off with two fingers like it was dirty, trying his best to save face and not look too embarrassed. All that was revealed was more ice and a milky colour. "Uh, I wanted what was under it. Like a hot thing."

"Well," the cashier extracted a folded and dingy menu from his apron pocket. "Everything in the column you pointed to is frosted." Laying the menu down and showing him. He was busted but then the man asked another question which made him sigh with relief. "Did you mean another page?"

"Oh...yeah. Definitely." Cocking his head and pushing falling hair behind his ear. "Uhm...where's the hot ones?"

"This page." Flipping it over and pointing to a page that even had a large 'HOT' across the top. Figures.

"Is...there one that's sweet? Super sweet?" He asked, feeling a little more at ease than at the line where there weren't people behind him and all around. His corner seemed a little more empty since it was closer to another door and therefore a little chilly. One person asking simple questions was doable.

"We can make any of them as sweet as you'd like. Extra syrups or powders are only fifteen extra cents, twenty for our largest cups."

"I'll get this one then." Pointing at a description he'd actually read. Chocolate, whipped cream, a fruit topping. Basically a dessert in a coffee. "And add more chocolate. Uh, here's my card-"

He moved to get his credit card back out of his wallet again. The man cut him off.

"Please, since it was an honest mistake, it's fine. If anything, please take this card and leave a positive review." The cashier extracted a long white cardboard piece of paper and placed it on the table, taking the drink away.

When Feliks' boss finally came in, she was dripping wet and obviously agitated.

"Sorry I'm so late. The snow is unbelievable coming from the northside. You been here long?"

"Like an hour now." Feliks had sat his laptop aside and was pouring over something, hair hanging down and a pen pushing and wiggling through it.

She sucked her teeth. "Can you believe this weather? It's unreal...what are you doing?"

"I'm filling out one of those customer service cards," he looked up and took a strawberry off the top of his drink, the hot part of it almost melted through the heavy whipping cream.

"Oh God." She sat down across from him, having taken her coat off. "Did they screw something up?" She leaned in with a harsh whisper. "Did you find a bug? I heard they had horrible bugs in here once. Not that I have issues with them but I would if I found one in my coffee. Disgusting. It's open so, I guess that got dealt with. It was just a rumor."

"No, it's a good one. But, ew, bug coffee." He explained, sitting up, flipping the card over a few times, wrinkling his brows as he pictured a roach swimming in iced coffee. "Like, really good. Good enough to waste my time filling this out."

"What'd I miss? Customer service isn't dead?" She folded her hands, gently overlapping them. "Oh, and we do still need to talk."

Rolling his eyes, Feliks leaned back. "For your information, I got free coffee. Like, on the house free coffee. And guess what." He quickly shot back forward and whispered something shameful to him. "It was my. Fault."

"Ohhh." She nodded, looking smug. "Can I hear that again? The fabled words?"

"Nope. But whatever. Free coffee. Free extra chocolate." He took another fruit from the top. "Free extra fruit. I didn't even ask for that. See? Want one?"

She'd already plucked one off of the top before he'd asked. "And what'd you do to get that?" Lis asked, chewing.

"I just got the wrong thing. The guy was super nice. Like, nicer than usual nice." Taking a loud sip and dipping his finger in his whipping cream. It felt nice being with his old friend and boss. Natural. "Figured the least I could do is fill one of these out."

"Let me see." Lis snatched it from the other side of the table. "I've got a theory here...ah. See. Your phone number's listed."

"Oh gosh, yeah. See if you fill these out, you're entered into this thing and you could win something. See, right at the top. They call you. And like, even I can put up with a call if it's giving me free stuff, you know?"

"Feliks." She tossed it back, watching it land on the table. "You're being duped."

"Duped?" Taking more whipped cream. "How? Isn't the business getting duped? I got the free stuff after all."

"No, God, you are so clueless sometimes. All the time." Lis folded her arms across her chest. "You're being duped because you're being hit on."

His face paled and he gave her a cockeyed look. "What?!" A little too loudly.

"Okay so." She stuck her elbow on the table now, fist in the air, extending a digit with every word. "First, free drink. Then, a way to get your number. How do you turn these things in?" Lis peered over, reading the bottom. "'Please turn into the residing cashier.' Is that who gave it to you?"

Suddenly they were both craning their necks behind and around them. There were a few people hovering around the counter which also served as a dessert cabinet, but when they subsided, Feliks could see him, swiping a credit card. It wasn't often he remembered a face, but since it was only about a half hour ago and he was nice, Feliks remembered. The brown hair, the quick hands as they did three or four things at once. The stained apron.

"Yeah, that guy."

"Mmmm." She leaned over and nodded. "Not bad. Could be worse."

"Oh my gosh, will you stop. Do you not leave your house or something? Sometimes nice people do nice stuff, you know?" Lis, during all the years he'd known her, had had a certain...interest in things like this. If someone gave someone she know a look that was even anywhere near meaningful, she was completely sure that they were destined to be in each other's arms.

"You're the one who doesn't leave your house. I'm the one who's engaged, remember?" Wiggling her finger at him as they sat back into comfortable positions. "So I think I know."

"No, you don't." He rolled his eyes, though obviously embarrassed. There was no way that was what it was. Absolutely not.

"Okay. Well. Here we go. Let's talk about what we need to talk about. It's about, uh, almost half past eleven, right?" She looked at her watch as Feliks looked at his laptop clock, nodding. "I bet he goes on lunch soon and he'll come over to get that card. If he does, then I'm right. But if it's not a big deal, and you have to go turn it in, then you're right. And I'll buy you cake."

He hoped and prayed she was right. That cake looked good.

After discussing several business dealings and inputting new totals and cash amounts into the spreadsheet, their lunch meeting was over by half past noon. Several times Feliks would look up and see a distracted Lis with her eyes narrowed, almost falling off of her chair, looking towards the counter. Shaking his head, he continued. He definitely wanted that cake but he also didn't want to be embarrassed anymore today. He'd already made a really stupid mistake and had to have it fixed. That was really all it was. He was thankful it wasn't some employee that was frustrated and angry and causing a scene instead of someone nice who got things done calmly.

He was in the middle of explaining this funny news story to his companion and boss when she spoke up, though under her breath.

"He's not there. Shift change."

"...You are obsessed."

"Not at all! But it's interesting. I am so completely sure I'm right, it's basically written in the Bible."

"It is not in the Bible."

"You would know. I bet you, I bet you! He'll be here. You watch."

"If he comes over," Feliks explained. "It'll be because he's got nothing better to do. Plus, don't some places give out bonuses or prizes for getting these? There's a name on it, right? He probably wants it for that."

"There's a name on there?" She looked back at it. "No, there's not. There's a place for one, but it's not there!"

Feliks looked at it himself. Indeed, one of the first and biggest things to fill out was 'Name of employee who dispensed card:'. Damn.

"He's going to come over here and you have to ask his name and he gets your number and in three years you'll be married with five kids and a dog. That's how things like this go."

"You're nuts-o." He was getting animated. "You are just crazy! How does anyone put up with you? How do I put up with you?"

"Are your ears hot?" Lis reached across the table, causing him to shrink away. "I know you're embarrassed when your ears are hot."

"I could get you for sexual harassment!" He threatened, though playfully, scooting his chair way back as she reached across the table with her half of her body.

"Can I, uhm, take this away? Sorry to interrupt."

They both turned in surprise. There was a finger pointing to the dregs of whipped cream in Feliks' plastic coffee cup. Attached to the finger was a man in a stained white shirt and a stained apron.

"Yes, you may. You're not interrupting anything." Lis sat back down as if nothing was going on, smiling widely. "Also, my employee here had a question for you. Feliks."

Turning and smiling at him, she wiggled her nose mischeviously. If he were the kind to use many expletives, he would have let out a string.

"Oh, aha, uhm. I filled this thing out but I..." He suddenly felt as if his throat was swollen. Damn Lis. Damn this stupid meeting. Damn this coffee, no matter how good it turned out to be.

"Oh, you need this." The cashier leaned over and pointed to the spot that was blank. "Oh, and thank you for this by the way. If you grab a pen, I can spell it for you? People say it's a little hard. Normally we have nametags but mine got lost in a mixer this morning."

Feliks just nodded, wide-eyed. Why was he suddenly shy again? He grabbed the pen and hurriedly bent over the card, at the ready.

"T. O-r. I-s." What a weird name, he mused, as he wrote it. Foreign. Not like he could talk but at least his name was a form of a pretty normal name.

"Okay. Uh, here. Weird" Taking it quikly, he handed the card back to him. Thank God that was over. He studied the man, Toris, as he read it over.

"Thanks, again, this is really nice of you." He nodded as he read it, smiling slightly. "I didn't mean to interrupt your meeting or anything."

"No, no." Lis quickly replied, almost snapping. "So, these little cards, huh? Do you get some bonus or something? I've thought about doing something similar myself in the office so I just wonder what the big goal is." Feliks gave her a look that said 'You know good and well you don't have the authority and in this line of business they'd be useless.' but she ignored it completely.

"Well, not really." Lis' eyes went wide. "It's sort of like that, but these only get filled out probably once or twice a month at the most so it's kind of useless. But it's nice to be one of the two, so it's still worth something." He laughed lightly. Feliks looked at him with squinted eyes. Cake was at stake here...so did that make them both right? Was it a half victory? A half a cake?

"Well, Feliks told me what you did and I'm grateful." Lis patted the top of her friend and employee's hand like a mother would. "He's not exactly the most outgoing, you know."

Feliks' eyes immediately widened, mortified. "Oh my God, what did you just say?" The fact that he both used the name of the Lord and said that outloud were milestones.

Toris just laughed again, though he was sure it was just politely this time. "It's fine, it's fine. Mistakes happen, especially when it's so cold. Oh, uhm." He felt around the pockets of his apron for a second, finally reaching in. "We also have individual marketing cards. It's actually more of a competition than a bonus or anything but-"

He pulled out a brightly designed card and set it on the table, then tapped it with his hand. "It's a promotional thing where if you bring these in and we sell patrons with these coffee and-or other food items," Toris stared at the ceiling as if recalling what was said to him with as much detail as possible. "Not only do we get perks, but a discount is applied to your purchase based on the number, like this one." pointing to a bright yellow circle, "This is ten percent off, twenty, thirty, and then the last one is free. So ten."

Lis smiled as he spoke, nodding along and looking at him. Feliks looked at the card and nodded as well.

"So would you like one?"

Feliks continued to stare at the card but after a pause he looked up to find the cashier staring at him with expectant eyes.

"Sure, I guess." Laughing nervously. Lis was wrong. Dead wrong. He was getting the card because he actually bought something. Just like he got something for free because he made a mistake. It was really that simple.

"Alright, thank you. I'll put my name on it." This time Toris got down, squatting to be level with the table and extracting a pen from his apron that seemed to hold literally everything in the world. He jotted down his name. A big sweeping top to the 'T' and an 'o' that didn't come full circle. Ah. He would definitely remember that name.

"Thank you." Lis replied, though it wasn't her place. "We'll be sure to have more meetings here."

"Good, good. Oh and while I'm here." He made a swooping check on one of the boxes. "There's your first one."

"But I didn't buy anything." Feliks stared dumbly, looking from the check to Toris who stood up.

"Ah it's alright. It helps us both out...or we could do it fair and square, if you want. Maybe that is better." He began to take out another but Feliks stopped him.

"No, it's cool. Cool. I mean, less money to spend, right?"

Toris gave him a look that wasn't exactly strange but not normal before he laughed again. "Thank you. It's honestly a help. Oh, and." He picked the almost-empty cup back up and shook it. "I forgot. Got to get rid of this. Please come back anytime you wish."

He turned on his heel, taking the cup away and disappearing through a door that said STAFF in big green letters. The two at the table were quiet for a second before Lis started to laugh.

"Okay so _that_ is not just good customer service." She pointed after him, almost shaking with laughter.

"You're really deluded." He didn't see what was funny or so believable. "Like, wow. You should be locked up."

"You get a free card. With a free check. He wrote his name _twice_. Where's my card, huh? He's got a thing for you. Enjoy it. Come back and get more free stuff."

"You didn't buy anything, I did. He probably gives those out to everyone. What was it? Some kind of, uh...competition. Remember he said something like it was helping him?" Feliks shrugged, saving his document one last time and preparing to close his laptop. "He's just a good business man or. Whatever. Besides, what's the chance of coming in here and seeing him again?"

"Do you want to?"

"Are you kidding me? There's got to be a word for nosy, gross chicks like you. But nosy gross chick fits pretty well."

She leaned back and shrugged, an expression of agreeance. "Yeah, probably. Oh but. I still won. So you know what that means?"

"Uh...you're never going to shut your mouth about it?"

"No." She laughed, grabbing her coat and getting out of her chair as he closed his laptop and put it back in his bag. He grabbed the card, considering leaving it. But if he did come back, he got cheaper things. That was never bad. And maybe, just maybe, he would get more free things. He quickly slid it over and stuck it in as well. It couldn't hurt.

"Then what?" Feliks stood up, zipping up his jacket again. He was not looking forward to getting on the subway again in this weather. "Also, can you give me a ride? It's crazy cold and like, my pants are already probably ruined."

"Yeah, sure, stop wearing those when it's wet out. But, like I was saying...you owe me cake."

"That was _so_ not agreed upon."

"I won so my prize is cake. Seduce the new cashier and then we'll get that for free too."

Feliks flushed and grumbled as he at least pushed his chair in. He would never understand why Lis was always so ridiculous.


	2. Chapter 2

November came quickly and somehow the abnormally early snow got worse. There were closings of schools for days on end, shop closings for a week. Feliks was both glad and upset he didn't have a car. Being stuck in that much traffic would have driven him crazy but walking to a subway station, sitting in cold subway cars, and then walking where he needed to go had it's own form of maddening torture. Not to mention repeating it once he was done with his errand.

Which was why he was out again today. He'd called Lis multiple times but she refused to answer. He would have prefered a ride into town to go get his suit fitted. Hell, it was for _her_ wedding. But no, no answer, and eventually straight to voicemail. He vowed to never speak to her again, though the whole errand itself contradicted it entirely.

The downtown area was almost completely dead, which he was thankful for. Walking quickly down the salted sidewalk which was still accumulating inches of snow, he huffed angrily, which was also helping his nose not freeze off. Numerous stores had signs that stated they were closed until further notice. Thank goodness that the place he was going wasn't closing. He thought to himself that if it was closed when he got there, his anger and frustration might just melt him through the pavement.

Thankfully, it wasn't, and he had to spend an insufferable hour getting fitted for a suit he thought was ugly. Truthfully, Lis did too ("But Fel, the male attire isn't my decision! I'd give you a nice dress but he'd go _nuts_!), but there was no getting around the horrible forrest green fabric and horrible blue ties and horrible gold links that rounded it all out with horrible white dress shoes. Four horribles were all he could use to describe it. He stood there, fuming not so silently as he looked at himself in the mirror at the shop, being poked with pins and needles (which he just _knew_ was on purpose). Feliks could not wait to get home.

Leaving the suit shop three hundred dollars poorer and three hundred times moodier than when he left his house, he stepped back outside into even more snow on the ground. He had worn different pants this time, just normal slacks that would just get wet and not buffered, so at least he was thankful for that. Walking though, became increasingly more ridiculous as more snow fell. While he was exaggerating it to himself, it felt like feet and feet of snow had fallen between one block and the next. Feet cold, nose cold, hair cold enough that if he touched it it would break off (He swore!), he didn't make his next decision lightly.

It was only two blocks and two alley ways out of the way, so it wasn't a big deal to get there. It wasn't until he saw the lights on, neatly shoveled entrance, and sign that declared an opening that he thought about how he should have considered it may not have been open at all. But it was so he couldn't think about it too long. The coffee shop was open, praise the Lord.

When he opened the door and felt the same rush of heat that would melt butter in seconds, he could feel the moisture evaporate from his body and his breath was almost taken away yet again. Ah, yes. This is what heat felt like. Because of the snow and closings, Feliks saw only two other people on the large floor as he quickly darted his eyes around the area. Also, he noticed there was no one at the counter at that second. There was a doorbell, so one would be there soon, but all he thought about was how grateful he was. This gave him time to recall what exactly he ordered last time.

Well, he didn't exactly order it. But close enough.

He'd only been at the counter for a minute, nose in one of the folded menus, when he heard movement behind him: an opening of a door, the sound of fabric touching and moving, a metal cooking utensil clanging against something. He hadn't found what he wanted yet...but if he didn't order right then, then they'd think he was weird. If he'd been there for so long, he should know what he wanted, right? Please don't look at him too long. It'd make his face go red and he'd end up leaving.

Feliks removed the menu from his face, ready to just spit out the name of the last thing he remembered seeing but stopped quickly when he saw who was working. He couldn't decide whether to be more or less embarrassed.

"Oh, hello." Toris replied, using what Feliks had to assume was a polite and cheery voice used for customer service. "Thank you for returning. What can I get you this time."

"Uhm!" Feliks uttered a little too urgently. "I-"

"Same as last time? Well, not the first thing. The second thing." He offered, hands ready to push the buttons on the register to ring up the drink. Feliks said a small prayer to make sure God blessed this man, his coffee saviour.

"Yeah, ahaha, that's exactly what I was going to say. Exactly!" He nervously laughed, a bit too obvious that he was completely lying. "And a, aha..." His eyes darted over to the dessert case. He had to order something that he actually knew the name of. He couldn't look this uncool. Even he was aware of how pathetic he seemed.

"A golden brownie. The yellowy kind." Patting the counter, now full of surety. Yes. He said the name of one item. They were again even.

"Oh, those are popular. Absolutely. May I see your card?" Toris asked, looking at Feliks and extending his left hand while his right furiously hit buttons. Feliks stared at it for possibly too long as Toris gestured slightly with his extended hand. Lis was right. When he was embarrassed, his ears did go warm and red.

Taking out his wallet he flipped around in it, finally extracting one of the various cards it held. As he did so, though, he suddenly remembered something. A brightly coloured card he extracted after he handed Toris his credit card.

"Also, this thing." He replied, nonchalantly putting it on the counter as well as his wallet, looking away. Feliks didn't feel as shy as he could be, as timid as he'd be around another stranger. But he still felt a little nervous and skittish.

"Oh, good. Another check. Hold on, sign your receipt and then I'll check you." Sliding a piece of paper over and a ballpoint pen. Feliks picked it up quickly, looking down to sign his name on the line. Putting the pen down just once, he watched in horror as a large spot of black ink trickled out, quickly causing a huge blot. He tried to sign anyway but could barely get through "Feli" before the ink was out. He looked up hoping that Toris would notice, though he was staring at the front door.

He decided to make a noise, sucking his teeth, instead of saying anything about it. Thankfully it worked.

"Oh did it break? I'm sorry. Please don't get any on you. Uhm." He fretted around, patting down his apron. Feliks assumed there had to be a pen in there since everything else seemed to be but after his apron he moved to the counter, scooting over a display and ringing up the register to open the drawer.

"I'm sorry to ask but do you happen to have a...?" Toris trailed off, a little sheepish now himself. Feliks picked up his bag from the straps, opening the front flap. He definitely knew he had a pen but was a little wary of extracting it. As he did, he looked at it disdainfully. Both ends were obviously chewed. From time to time, when he was on the phone or on hold and didn't have food within reach, he'd chew on the ends and the clip. Closing the flap, he pushed his bag back down again, repeating his movements and signing the receipt; thankfully his own pen worked.

He moved to hand the pen over, hoping that he wouldn't be met with a glare or a harsh grab of a pen that was, by his own admission, a little gross, but Toris took it without blinking, bending down slightly himself to find the appropriate circle and checking it. He handed the pen back with a smile.

"Sorry about that. It's always something, isn't it?" Feliks took the pen quickly and shoved it in a jacket pocket. Thank goodness that transaction was over. Nodding as Toris moved back after putting the signed receipt back in the drawer. Feliks wasn't sure, but he had to guess the place was understaffed or something. It seemed like this guy was not only a cashier but also a server and a baristo. He shook his head and went to go sit down.

The same seat he'd had at first was open, but right in front of it was a woman who sat tapping at her computer. Though she was obviously wrapped up in her own work, he wasn't going to risk it and instead took a booth this time, right near where he was standing.

Taking out his computer, he he typed in his password and opened up his email. It was only because of Lis he knew how to turn it on or open anything at all. Without an email program, he'd be completely lost. Looking at the contact list on the side, it appeared that she was now at her computer. He figured he'd test it out, quickly typing out an email.

{ u yet up? }

She replied quickly.

[ yes, working. i've been up. ]

{ u werent up when i called u 88888888 times this morning ? }

[ oh i was just busy ;) ]

{ gross }

[ how did the fitting go? was it as ugly as it looked in the planning photo? ]

{ yes & worse }

They went on for a few minutes, their relationship as old friends more apparent than their positions as a boss and employee.

[ oh yeah. you back home? i'll come over for a little bit if you want. ]

{ no still out }

[ oh where? i'll meet you ]

{ coffee place. w8ing for cu (haha its a cup!) }

He was close to cutting off the spam email chain when he was approached by the sound of rubber soled feet. Toris arrived from behind him, Feliks instinctively lowering his laptop screen, and presenting him with a large and fruity coffee as well as a small, folded paper bag.

"Here you are. Sorry, I didn't know you were on a business call." He whispered, backing up. "Please tell me if you need anything else."

"No! Gosh, it was just an email, nothing weird!" He apparently didn't see anything, not that it was exactly incriminating. "I mean, uh-"

Feliks was cut off as he heard his laptop make a small pinging noise. A new email. Opening his laptop again, it was Lis.

[ so is a certain someone there? ]

Completely gross to the third power.

"You mean...?" Toris started, causing Feliks to look back up from his computer. Oops, he was talking, wasn't he?

"I mean, uh, it's cool. You didn't interrupt anything. Just something gross."

"Gr...oss?"

Oh no, he actually said that out loud. "Yeah! Like a...chain email! Something gross like that!" He laughed loudly, and he knew stupidly. "You know those! You get those!"

"Oh, yeah, I do. Anyway, sorry about that."

Feliks quickly snapped back to his computer screen, completely mortified. If anything was gross, that was gross. He quickly replied.

{ i h8 u im not coming to your dumb wedding xxxxx }

[ don't say that and then send me a bunch of kisses. what happened? ]

{ no! bad xs! like bzzt ur out xs! }

[ dramatic even in an email. ]

Feliks sipped his coffee with a pout. It was hot but he was determined to ignore her. He could close his computer but he liked doing something out in public. He felt it made him look important and hard-working while also causing people to avoid talking to him unnecessarily.

[ answer my question! :( ]

Lis wasn't letting up, but what else was new.

{ yeah hes here. but dont u think gross things! }

[ its not gross. :) cute xoxo ]

{ bad xs and bad os 4 u }

As he was typing away furiously, he was too distracted to notice that someone was back at his table until there was a loud tapping. Making a noise of shock he wasn't proud of, he whipped his head back up, looking at the source. It was Toris again. Without even looking he typed something out.

{ jrs lakr }

Also known as "he's back."

"I don't mean to interrupt you again, but this is a little important I think." Toris whispered again, the hand not on the table in his apron. He extracted something that made Feliks gasp.

"How'd you get my wallet?" He asked, voice going a little high in both surprise and fluster.

"I..." Toris seemed taken aback. "Well, you left it, I think..."

It took Feliks a little bit too long to realize that it could have seemed like he was being accusatory. "Ugh, maybe. It's cold so..." The excuse had nothing to do with why he was distracted and left his wallet at the counter. Not wanting to talk anymore, he stuck his hand out, a tad aggressively, but Toris placed it in his palm gently.

"Sorry to bother you, I'm sure you come here to get work done." He continued to whisper, backing up again.

"It's, uh, not work. I work at home, you know? So don't worry about it." Feliks felt like that was enough to wave him off. He'd already been embarrassed enough that day, between random dudes putting their hands places they didn't need to be while being fitted for that ugly suit and not knowing what to order again and his embarrassing pen and the ink and then the gross thing. He was a mess. No wonder he didn't like leaving his house.

"Oh, from home? I've never heard of something like that. What is it you do?"

Feliks didn't think of how this was probably a little familiar for a cashier-slash-baristo-slash-server, because when it came to talking about himself, he sure was a champ. Especially when it was about something that could be considered impressive.

"It's like...I work at a real estate place? And the people that sell houses make commision and have to figure out all kinds of money stuff with houses and selling and everything. So I get to put all those numbers together and figure stuff out. It's cool, right? I mostly just do a bunch of stuff with spreadsheets, and it can be really yawn sometimes, but it's a totally cool job, huh?"

"Yeah, cool." Toris laughed, not expecting such a long and proud answer from someone who'd proven to be a little awkward and skittish. "It sounds like you're living the good life."

"Yeah." Feliks laughed back. "Probably better than a coffee shop thing, huh?"

There was a small awkward silence while they both recognized how rude that was.

"Oh but!" Feliks quickly tried to save himself. "But it's kind of cool how you do so much, huh? It's like one job then another job then another job. So three jobs! Dude three jobs is...cool, I guess."

As he went on he could feel himself losing steam as Toris' face changed from awkward shyness to a wide-eyed stare. Feliks cut himself off, instead focusing his mouth on his coffee.

"I guess so. Well, it's really one job." Toris finally admitted, not looking so uncomfortable. "I'm actually the morning manager."

"Oh. Is that why you can give out free stuff?" Feliks asked this innocently, out of curiosity.

"...Well, kind of. But, I mean, I guess I can't help but be jealous of someone who works with all that money and those totals so easily. I have to do the register log at the end of the week and even small amounts like that can get a little overwhelming."

"It's easy!" Feliks proclaimed, excited to speak about something he could with ease. "I can totally do it. Hand me all of that stuff from years and years and I could do it, not even in an hour I bet!"

"It's impressive." Toris commented. Feliks could feel himself beam with pride. "We have one of those computer programs but it's not exactly as good as pen and paper stuff."

"If you send it to me I could do it in two seconds. Like, a blink of an eye." Feliks nodded, more than a little smug.

"Well, if I ever need someone to double check when tax time comes, I'll make sure to call you."

His shyness had completely melted away by this exchange of pleasantries (sort of) and a topic he could feel confident in. "I'll totally give you my number. Text or call or whatever. I'll totally do whatever you need!"

"It's okay, I have it already." Toris said, smiling. "Thank you for the offer. I'll definitely take you up on that sometime."

And he walked off.

Feliks immediately took back to his computer. Something was puzzling him, now.

{ hey lis u still around }

A few minutes later, there was a reply.

[ yeah, what do you need? ]

{ i have a ? for u. }

[ :) of course. what is it fel? ]

{ if u just do a favor for some 1, but its like a job, do u still need to file taxes 4 that ? }

[ what? no, it's just a favor. what's going on over there? ]

{ i think he asked me to do his taxes ? }

[ how do you screw up something so badly that you're doing his taxes ]

{ what do u mean screw up ? this is cool! i just dont know how 2 do this. do i need a w2. mayB i work here now idk }

[ you are literally insufferable. ]

{ Y RNT YOU HELPING ME }

[ you're too far gone to help now. :( i'll visit you in a retirement home one day, doing taxes. LOL ]

{ u rnt even helpful in the 1st place, y do i ask }

Feliks sipped on his coffee indignantly. How frustrating.

[ do you like this guy? be honest. ]

{ how do i like a guy i dont even no }

[ well what about how he looks? ]

{ messy. }

He did indeed look over his shoulder, subtle not being a term he was familiar with, and examined him a little more closely. There weren't any people in line so there was no one to check out and no one to make coffee for. Toris seemed to have money on the mind now as he was taking out and scribbling on receipts; Feliks even recognized his at the bottom of the stack in his hand just by the large ink spot. Admittedly, he was a shallow kind of guy. Thus he examined him from scalp to waist, which was all he could see as of then.

[ just give me a number or something, he's not bad. ]

Well, his hair was nice. He appreciated longer hair on a guy more than he cared to admit. He did not, appreciate, however, that there was obviously no love lost when it came to Toris and his own hair. There were various food substances in it, fresh from the day's work, frizzy in the back, and a section of it where it should be parted in the middle was going off to the right. Face wise, not bad either. Nice green eyes, the nose wasn't half bad, he didn't like how Toris seemed to be a little bit of a lip biter but he coul tell that there was a little bit of chapstick put on to try to hide a little nibbling scar. Clean shaven earned a him another number. Shoulders, check. Chest...was he actually doing this?

{ i am not doing this. }

[ give me a number. ]

{ 8 }

[ not bad honestly. could do worse. ]

{ there is no doing! dont you make that gross either i will be mad and object ur wedding }

[ hee hee hee hee hee ]

He ran his hands through his hair. Here she was, getting him wrapped up in things like this. Definitely gross. Definitely.

Feliks closed his laptop, coffee half gone but still hot which would prove useful going back to his house on the subway. The last time they were here, he and Lis, they'd left without tipping. Was it customary to tip? It seemed like it wouldn't hurt. Feliks was good with the numbers in money but money itself he was a little more willy nilly with. He took out his wallet, which he made sure he had this time, and took out a ten and put it on the table.

Toris yelled "Come back soon!" to him as he left.


End file.
